Viverravidae

Viverravidae ("ancestors of viverrids") is an extinct monophyletic family of mammals from extinct superfamily Viverravoidea within the clade Carnivoramorpha, that lived from the early Palaeocene to the late Eocene in North America, Europe and Asia. They were once thought to be the earliest carnivorans and ancestral to extant ones, but now are placed outside the order Carnivora based on cranial morphology as relatives (a plesion-group) to extant carnivorans.

Viverravidae
Temporal range: early Paleocene - late Eocene
skull of Viverravus minutus
skull of Didymictis protenus
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Pan-Carnivora
Clade: Carnivoramorpha
Superfamily: Viverravoidea
Wortman & Matthew, 1899
Family: Viverravidae
Wortman & Matthew, 1899
Type genus
Viverravus
Marsh, 1872
Genera
Synonyms
synonyms of family:
  • Didymictida (Kretzoi, 1945)
  • Didymictidae (Flynn & Galiano, 1982)
  • Viverravidea
  • Viverravinae (Matthew, 1909)
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